Horseshoe-nail plate



UNITED STATES EATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH M. LAUGHLIN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

HORSESHOE-NAI L PLATE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 237,030, dated January25, 1881.

Application filed October 8, 1880. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH M. LAUGHLIN, ofBoston, Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement inHorseshoe-Nail Plates, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in the manufacture of nail-platesfrom which horseshoe-nails are to be made; and the object of myimprovement is to provide a nail-plate which shall have that part of itsedge from which the nail-head is to be struck hardened near one of itsangles, so that the nails afterward out from it will have a headhardened at the point most requiring solidity.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a cross-section of aplate which has been prepared by the ordinary hot-rollin g process,having in its several parts the proper thickness, so thathorseshoe-nails may be cut or punched therefrom with their heads at theedges of the plate and their points in the thinner middle part.

This plate, as shown, has upon its edge a ffiu or edge, g, which isformed as the plates are rolled into shape, by the escape of someportion of the metal between the ends of the operative parts of therolls of the rolling-machine, which rolls, formed as shown in Fig. 3,have a series of passes or forming-intervals between them of the kindknown as closed, or, in other words, separated from one another bycollars b, formed upon one roll, preferably the under one, 1), runningin channels a, made to receive them in the other roll, a. In these rollsthe surface of the roll between the collars is made convex,.so that theplate rolled will have its flat side formed against the roll having thegrooves a cut in it. By passing the nail-plates through the rolls, so asto have the flat side of the plate nearest the opening between the tworolls, the fin will be'left on the corners of the plate on that side.After the plates have been rolled, as shown in Fig. 1, they are taken,when cold, and passed between rolls (whose form is seen in Fig. 4)which, unlike those shown in Fig. 3, have the flat side between thecollars t of roller 11 and the convex surface upon the roll h, so thatthe hot-rolled plate, whose cross-section is seen in Fig. 1, formed inthe rolls. shown in Fig. 3, will, when turned over and passed betweenthe rolls when cold, have the fin 9 brought into the angle formed by theflat surface between the collars z", and the collars and the rollerswill force the fin back into the plate, and consequently harden thatpart of the plate marked 0, Fig. 2, thus forming a plate having athicker part from which the heads of the nails are taken, which has itsouter corner hardened, so that when the nails cut from this plate aredriven the blows of the hammer falling upon a line axial with the shankof the nail fall upon a portion of the head better prepared to sustainthe shocks than it would be if it were cut from a plate not so hardened.

As the horseshoe-nail has its head extending over one side more than theother the axial line of the nail passes much nearer one side of the headthan the other, and consequently, as the force to drive the nail must beapplied in the direction of that line, the force of the hammer must beexerted more nearly to one side of the head than the other, and as thatside is the side formed of the angle of the plate into which the fin wascompressed it is, by reason of being so hardened, better able towithstand the successive blows of the hammer, and keeps its form anddoes not so quickly become battered and rounded upon the corner nearestthe axial line, and consequently is easier and more accurately driventhan a nail with a less perfect corner, or a corner that would hold itsshape less perfectly, and also is less liable to become bent whiledriving than would a nail whose head is uniformly soft. There will,therefore, be produced from the plate prepared as above described a nailwhich will retain the desiredform of head longer, and can be driven moreaccurately and easily than those out from plate not so prepared.

What I claim as new and of my invention 1s- A nail-plate provided on oneor both edges with a ridge for the head of the nail, which is madeharder near one of its angles than its main portion by compressing themetal forming such part by cold-rolling, substantially as described.

JOSEPH M. LAUGHLIN.

Witnesses:

L. O. RIoE, N. P. OGKINGTON.

